Wednesday, 5 January 2011

You would think that glam rock was made for the movies, and to a certain extent it was.

Movies were a big theme and influence in the whole glam rock sound and look. But in the great scheme of things it didn’t come out very well on the TV or on the big screen.

For a genre that was as bold and brash, bright and glittering as glam rock, most movies connected with it were grim and depressing or just plain crap.

How about this; crooner David Essex dying of a drug OD at the end of ‘Stardust’, and Slade in ‘Flame’ instead of a ‘Help’ style glam romp we got a gritty, cynical drama about the rise and fall of a Northern rock band.

‘Never too Young to Rock’ was meant to be upbeat and colourful, but ended up being as lukewarm and greasy as the food served in the café shown in the film, even the real actors were bad.

Other films that have attempted to capture some essence of glam include:

Velvet Goldmine

Phantom of the Paradise

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Born To Boogie

Remember Me This Way

Side by Side

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

‘Stardust’ is the theme song from the movie of the same name and is a great 70’s pop song, with a fantastic Chris Spedding guitar solo, up there with the best of the decade.

The tagline to the movie was - “Show me a boy who never wanted to become a rock star and I’ll show you a liar”

Martin Gore of Depeche Mode who covered the song said:

“Firstly it was just a song from my youth. I was never a massive David Essex fan, but I liked a few of his tracks and stardust was one of them, and probably my favourite one. It’s a good emotional song and I think it does sum up, somehow the loneliness of being a rock star at times".

“Ah look what they’ve done to the rock n roll clown.

Ah rock n roll clown, look he’s down on the ground.

Well he used to high fly but he crashed out the sky.

In a stardust fling, hey rock n roll king is down”.

‘Far Far Away’ is a # 2 single from 1974, and is from the movie ‘Slade in Flame’.

From the ‘Songfacts’ website:

“Frontman Noddy Holder penned the song after a long period of touring when he was thinking of home. He told Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie on their BBC Radio 2 show that he was looking out of a hotel window overlooking the Mississippi with Slade's manager Chas Chandler when he uttered, ‘I see the yellow lights go down the Mississippi’ and Chandler said, ‘write that song, now!’ So he went next door and after half an hour he came back with the track”.

2
comments:

Anonymous
said...

the velvet goldmine soundtrack was my introduction to roxy music and brian eno when i was like 14. not the best movie ever but still holds a special place for me. born to boogie on the other hand was nearly unwatchable even as a huge t.rex fan.

About Me

About this blog

This blog is here to give a taste of the sights and sounds of the glam rock period. The forgotten A-sides and album tracks that weren't fully appreciated the first time, and the equally forgotten and long lost B-sides that were the flip-side of what glam was all about.The music and videos featured here are for evaluation and reference purposes only. They are only available to promote the music and the artists.If you like what you hear then go and buy the records, CDs, DVDs or any other format you can think of.Most of the songs on this blog are "Vinyl Rips" from my own collection. I have tried to clean them up as best I can so the sound will not be as clear and clean as the CD versions. Some crackles and hissing may still be heard. Anyway, the resulting MP3's are at 128 kbps. Any copyright holders who want me to remove any music/videos/pictures then just contact me and it will be removed immediately.